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WaterAid marked the midway point in the agreed timescale for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with the launch of a report, 'Global cause' and effect: How the aid system is undermining the Millennium Development Goals', which demonstrates how progress towards achieving the goals is being held back by donor preferences for 'global causes' which undermine the development priorities of recipient countries.

16th July 07, WaterAid

Link to the full report (pdf)

The MDGs, agreed to by developed and developing countries alike, aim to halve extreme poverty by 2015.  The report calls on donors to balance their investments more evenly across the essential services; health, education, water and sanitation.

Access to clean water is usually the first priority for the poor, but since 1990, aid spending on water has remained stagnant whilst spending on health and education has doubled.

WaterAid is calling for donors to recognise that progress between the essential services of health, education and water and sanitation is interdependent and investments must be balanced more evenly.

"Girls are not attending school because of inadequate sanitation facilities and because they spend hours fetching water. Over half of the developing world's hospital beds are filled with people suffering from diarrhoeal diseases. Donors need to respond better to those priorities expressed by the poor." Henry Northover, WaterAid's Head of Policy.

WaterAid calls for urgent changes to the aid system to ensure that donor policy responds to the needs of the poor and tackles the most critical obstacles to development. Donors must move away from single issue 'global causes' towards more effective and holistic approaches.

Too often aid allocations have been determined by donor preferences and by the loudest voices coming from the developed world. This results in unbalanced financial inputs and perverse developmental outcomes.

Download WaterAid's 'Global cause' and effect: How the aid system is undermining the Millennium Development Goals report:

Find out more, read the Guardian's Anti-poverty targets in Africa will not be met, UN warns.

For more information, interviews, footage and photos please contact: Charlotte Godber on 020 7793 4909 / 07876 330351 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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